Zoran Dukić

"the genius from Zagreb showed both technical brilliance and tenderness, with the artistic potential and expressive power of life itself. ...This is a musician, not a guitarist"

Kölnische Rundschau (Cologne, Germany)

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Zoran Dukić, guitar

“Always the master of his instrument, Dukić demonstrated spectacular virtuosity over and over again together with a great maturity and powerful inspiration.” Il Gazzettino, Italy

Zoran Dukic is one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of our time. His concert performances, both as a soloist or with an orchestra, leave long-lasting impressions on both audiences and critics.

“A thrilling concert… the audience was on its feet already after the first piece… a phenomenal evening” Gevelsberger Zeitung (Germany)

He graduated from the Music Academy of Zagreb with Darko Petrinjak and completed his studies with Hubert Käppel at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.

In his “tour de force” competition years (1990-1997) Zoran Dukic has won an astonishing number of competitions. He is the only guitarist to have won both “Andrés Segovia” competitions, in Granada and in Palma de Mallorca. Showing astounding mastery in a wide variety of musical periods and styles he has also won competitions dedicated to “Fernando Sor”, “Manuel Ponce”, “Manuel de Falla”, “Francisco Tárrega” among others. In the greatest Spanish guitar competition in Madrid, patronized by the Royal Family, he was awarded, in addition to the first prize, the special prize for the best interpretation of Spanish music (first time awarded to a non-Spaniard).

Though he considers the music by J. S. Bach is still the focal point of his musical life, he has inspired numerous composers to dedicate their works to him. His premiers of new music are strengthened by his admiration of contemporary musical expression. His programs include new works by Takemitsu, Henze, Reily, Carter or Gubaidulina among many others.

He enjoys a special affinity for Spanish and South American musical idiom, the core repertoire of classical guitar. Currently, his carefully balanced programs present a range of music from Bach to Britten, from Sor to Albéniz, from Tárrega to Villa-Lobos and Brouwer.

Summary:
“This album by Croatian guitarist Zoran Dukić is not merely the alternation between Bach and Astor Piazzolla’s works, but the juxtaposition of their affects, the contiguity of key signatures, and the surprise of its almost cinematic cuts. Although each piece is self-sustaining, this is an album that invites the listener to appreciate all eleven tracks in a sequence, as if they formed a single work: a baroque-tango suite, the “Bachianas Argentinas” of Zoran Dukić.

All works by Bach in this recording were composed in a period of only six years (between 1717 and 1723) at a moment in which the composer – aged 32 through 38 – worked as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold in Anhalt-Köthen.

Dukić’s choices include the slow movements of the Sonatas for solo violin (“Siciliana” of n.1, “Andante” of n.2, and “Largo” of n.3) and the “Sarabandes” of the first two Partitas (also for solo violin). Another “Sarabande,” that of Suite n.5 for Cello (performed here in A minor, as is customary for guitarists who base themselves on the version for lute, catalogued as BWV 995) brings the journey to an end.

The works by Piazzolla were composed between 1959 (Adiós Nonino, which is an hommage to the composer’s father) and 1980 (“Romántico”, the second of the Cinco Piezas para Guitarra, his only original work for solo guitar). The remaining pieces come from the rich creative period between 1962 and 1970: Invierno Porteño (1970) is part of the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (1965-70), while Milonga del Ángel and La Muerte del Ángel were composed (along with Introducción al Ángel) in 1962 for the play Tango del Ángel, by Alberto Rodríguez Muñoz (1915-2004). The Angel Cycle would be closed in 1965 with Resurreción del Ángel.

During this period, the bandoneonista had already completed his compositional education in Buenos Aires with Alberto Ginastera (1916-83) and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). With the exception of the Cinco Piezas, the works of Piazzolla recorded here were written for his many instrumental groups (octet, quintet, nonet, and sextet), among which, two quintets (bandoneón, electric guitar, piano, violin, and double-bass) became particularly well known. In the juxtapositions between Bach and Piazzolla proposed here, Bach is always the vital substratum. His music appears in a register at once sweet and direct, complete, as if to encounter the nervous tresillo of argentine tango were, for it, the most natural thing in the world.” -Sidney Molina
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Ourkouzounov – Concerto Infini (I.Prologue)

Project: Castelnuovo-Tedesco, M.: 24 Caprichos De GoyaSynopsis:
With its grotesque cast of supernatural beings and subhuman characters, the satirical etchings of Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos (1799) portray the sufferings of 18th century Spain in some of Western art’s most influential images. Originally conceived for Andrés Segovia, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s 24 Caprichos de Goya has seldom been recorded complete, as it is hereby Croatian guitarist Zoran Dukic, whose spectacular virtuosity, profound musicianship and artistic maturity have won him more first prizes in international competitions than anyone else in the world.

Quotations:

“…the 26-year old string genius from Zagreb showed both technical brilliance and tenderness, with the artistic potential and expressive power of life itself. …This is a musician, not a guitarist”

-Kölnische Rundschau (Germany)

“…enormously rich qualities of phrasing and rubato always at the service of the poetic dimensions of the music.” -Guitarres, Brussels (Belgium)

“…This review is not a scream of amazement or adoration but an honest tribute to the purest joy of music.” -Vecernji List, Zagreb (Croatia)

“…always the master of his instrument, Dukic demonstrated spectacular virtuosity over and over again together with a great maturity and powerful inspiration.” -Il Gazzetino, Pordenone (Italy)

“…what a power for captivating the attention of the audience!” -VIOLÃO INTERCAMBIO (Brazil)

“A thrilling concert… the audience was on its feet already after the first piece… a phenomenal evening” -GEVELSBERGER ZEITUNG (Germany)

“Identifying with the very core of the piece of music and successful transmission of his own vision to the audience is the highest achievement of the concert artist. Zoran Dukic innately has these qualities.” -VIJENAC (Croatia)

“What a height of interpretative capacity… His concept of baroque style bears a stamp of authenticity…petrifying security…” -EL CORREO DE ANDALUCIA (Spain)

“a true artist, a musician whose dimension goes beyond superlative dominion of the instrument…He almost caused a state of delirium through the level of his virtuosity and volcanic fantasy” -CANARIAS 7 (Spain)

“…Master-virtuoso, avoiding at every instance effect-striving, empty virtuosity… He treats his instrument with intimate sensibility and cherishes warm and noble guitar sound… He is a leading guitarist of his generation.”

–ONLINE MUSIK MAGAZIN (Germany)

“…Master of the instrument, shining in virtuoso moments as well as in the intimate ones. The sonority he creates from his guitar is as admirable as his palette of expression and elegance.” -EL NORTE (Mexico)

“A musician with vigour and power reserved only for the great…his way of vibrato on certain notes goes straight to your heart…his sonority, inspiration, and lyricism can move mountains…Llobet, Pujol, Segovia, Presti are back!”

-CAHIERS DE LA GUITARE (France)

“…Dukić is, without exaggeration, one of the best guitarists of today and one of the greatest musicians Croatia has ever had… Breathless virtuosity, fascinating levels of dynamics, astounding beauty and clarity of tone and unbelievable concentration and focus as he dives into the depths of the spirit of the music, bringing back to us its metaphysical dimension disguised and cloaked in sound.” -ZAREZ, Croatia